


The Pilgrim

by Issay



Series: Stories Untold [1]
Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005), Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015), Torchwood
Genre: Fix-It, M/M, Prompt Fic, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-09
Updated: 2015-03-09
Packaged: 2018-03-17 03:52:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3514352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Issay/pseuds/Issay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Why?"<br/>Eggsy finds himself staring into a pair of eyes as old as time, older than any eyes should be and ones that saw too much. Eyes that belong to a man who is scary and powerful and good at the same time - and Eggsy understands why the agency decided to avoid him, he really does. But this man is his only chance. So he answers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Pilgrim

**Author's Note:**

> Some time ago I've got a prompt on fanfiction.net from the user Stormglass - Eggsy going back in time to save Harry. So here it goes.  
> Now a part of a series.

1

Of course Eggsy knows that aliens are a thing. He's a Londoner, for fuck's sake, he has a vague memory of Canary Wharf battle and remembers very well those five days in July when people were looking at the children in fear, the army was on the streets and he has seen the yellow buses leaving his old school (Eggsy's mother was thanking the Lord he was already twenty and the aliens had no business with him). He remembers the days when no one died, mostly because of how scary the thought that Dean would live forever was.  
So Eggsy isn't surprised when he gets the access to the files copied from Torchwood One archives or other files, just like those, on Torchwood itself, and they tell a story of the immortal man and another one, traveler through time and space in a blue box.  
_To have a box like that_ , thinks Eggsy and sighs sadly. It's been three months since Valentine's Day - days without Harry Hart - and sometimes it seems like it was a whole eternity. Nothing is as it used to be. Even the food Eggsy used to like now tastes bland, just like it was made from paper or some sorts of plastic. Nothing is fun any more and when Eggsy looks around, everything he sees just makes him more tired. _If I had a box like that, I could save Harry and turn it all around._  
Wait.  
Actually, _why_ can't he?

2

A thick file of documents lands with a thud on Merlin's desk, causing the wizard to look up from his screens and scowl at Eggsy.  
"Tell me about the Doctor," demands the younger man, successfully stopping the rant on good manners Merlin already has, without a doubt, already on the tip of his tongue. The wizard blinks, confused. And then takes a deep breath.  
"He's a time traveler, that's what we know for sure. He changes faces so possibly a skinchanger or he has some sort of technology that allows him to alter his appearance. Torchwood says he's an alien but after Canary Wharf I figure Torchwood couldn't recognize an alien unless it kicked their collective arses or tried to take over the world. Usually he travels with people, as far as we know - normal ones, human. Saved the world a couple of times but funnily enough, never when we actually needed him to, like world war two or fucking 456, you know, the children mess, Torchwood Three took a hit for that one. And that blue box of his is, according to our alien-loving friends, a space ship. Not much else, really, we let UNIT and SHIELD take care of those fuckups, we have enough of our own."  
"So..." Eggsy looks thoughtful for a second, "you could use the CCTV access that I know you have and set up an alert for any blue time traveling boxes?"  
Merlin nods, looking at Galahad attentively. He knows what the boy is planning - he thought about that himself. But to risk everything like that..?  
"Do that," says Eggsy and turns to leave.  
"You know that if you do this, there is no coming back. And no way of telling if in the changed timeline of events you'll ever become a Kingsman yourself."  
Galahad stops but doesn't turn to face the technician. He's standing straight, in attention, every muscle stiff.  
"I know. But I'm willin' to risk it. Has to be better than what's now, innit?"  
With that, he leaves.

3

Soft _ping_ of a new e-mail message wakes Eggsy up from his fitful slumber. Blindly he reaches to check his phone and find a photo attached to a short text from Merlin - "The old man and brunette girl. Bristol. Search in cafes that serve good carrot pie. Good luck."  
Galahad spends a moment simply looking at the screen from CCTV image - phone box, an elderly man whose eyebrows looks like an angry owl and a pretty bird, the kind that Eggsy would like to know closer if only he wasn't going back in time to save his... Harry. His Harry. Right.  
So Eggsy puts his phone away, dresses in his first Kingsman suit, picks Harry's favorite tie (that still smells like the older man's cologne and it soothes him), loads his gun and leaves the house quietly. Briefly he thinks about saying goodbye to his mum but she wouldn't understand.  
He leaves without a word and disappears into London's foggy night.

4

"You know, for a time traveling bloke you're surprisingly easy to find," he says, sitting down uninvited, joining the Doctor and his pretty companion. He found them in a little cafe in Bristol, just like Merlin wrote, one that has "amazing carrot pie!" on the blackboard just outside the entrance. "Don't worry," he adds because the girl seems alarmed. "No bad intentions, just need a lift."  
"And why should I give one?" asks the Doctor looking more amused than mad. "I'm not a taxi, I'll have you know."  
"Well, you're the only one who can get me not only someplace but also sometime so I figure, why not to try? Thought saving people was your thing or are the files wrong?"  
"What files?" asks the girl, Clara if he remembers correctly. The Doctor takes another bite of his pie.  
"As I said, no bad intentions," Eggsy flashes a smile at her. "I'm no UNIT or SHIELD, or whatever they call themselves now. Just a Kingsman agent. On a mission, you know."  
"Not really a time-altering mission, I hope? I know you, people in nice suits who like bloodshed like it's the only way to do things! There are some things that can't be done, boy. Fixed points in time and space. You can try but it will never happen, you don't see me trying to kill Hitler, do you?"  
"Is the Valentine's massacre really a thing that has to happen?" Eggsy asks calmly. If there is anything being a Kingsman has taught him, maybe except for speaking more properly, is acting. He's a good actor. He can feign calm.  
The Doctor closes his eyes and rubs eyelids. Clara touches his hand, man's fingers twitching.  
"Doctor?" Her voice is soft and sweet, Eggsy could listen to it all day. "Can we?"  
"Why?"  
Eggsy finds himself staring into eyes as old as time, older than any eyes should be and that saw too much. Eyes that belong to a man who is scary and powerful and good at the same time - and Eggsy understands why the agency decided to avoid him, he really does. But this man is his only chance. So he answers.  
"Before Valentine's plan went wide, he did a small trial. On a church. Church filled with not especially good people, just the small-minded folks who believe that they are always right. But there was one different man in there. The best, most courageous man I've ever know. He changed my life, you know. I would be no one without him. So I want to save his because everyone in that church died that day."  
There is a moment of silence that lasts maybe a heartbeat, maybe a lifetime. Eggsy's not sure.  
"You loved him," says the girl.  
He doesn't know what to say to that. But he nods.

5

Time travel is easier than he thought.

6

"There will be no coming back for you," warns him the Doctor as Eggsy leaves the TARDIS.  
"I know. But there will be for another me. Thank you, Doc. Thanks, Clara."  
Blue box leaves with a wheezing sound and then Eggsy is alone on the road leading to South Glade, Kentucky with enough time to slowly walk into the town, find a post office, write a letter and send it. He has to be careful, he knows that Harry is already here somewhere and he can't be seen, not yet, it's too soon. But then he also has a task of finding Valentine's hideout.  
"Where would I be if I wanted to run an experiment on a fuckin' church full of people..." he wonders, looking around and notices a small sign, "free apartments".  
Eggsy snorts. It's a wee bit too easy when you play the same game for the second time, innit?

7

They obviously don't expect him. The experiment hasn't even started yet when Eggsy comes in, guns blazing, killing the girl with metal legs - Gazelle, he remembers as she falls down with a bullet in her head - and Valentine makes a move to start the damned waves.  
"Not this time, you fuck," says Eggsy calmly.  
After all, a bullet to Valentine's computer should pretty much solve the problem. And if it doesn't then at least it buys Eggsy enough time to point at the genius himself.  
"You can't..." he starts.  
Eggsy ends his sentence with a shot.

8

When Harry Hart gets up and calmly leaves the Kentucky South Glade Mission Church, Valentine is dead and Eggsy is standing next to the window, not really caring about the blood on his shoes.  
"You're welcome," he whispers as Harry gets into his car.  
And then...then Eggsy is no more.

0

Somewhere in time and space a string of events breaks. It bleeds golden energy and dies, tremors going through the whole Vortex. The song of the billions of voices has one less.  
"He succeeded," says the Doctor in the middle of a completely different sentence.  
Clara smiles.

1

Eggsy wakes up and he's not a Kingsman recruit any more which confuses him slightly. He's still in Harry's house, waiting for Galahad to get back after his very boring and equally unsuccessful mission in some shithole in Kentucky (Eggsy knows, he watched the whole thing via live feed coming in on Harry's personal computer). But Harry did say that they were going to sort it out and Eggsy trusts him so why should he worry?  
There is fresh mail when he comes downstairs - he knows it's not his place but he sorts it either way because it's a nice thing to do. Well, it's actually nice to have something to do, if only for a minute. But there is one letter that is addressed for Eggsy.  
And has Harry's address.  
Weird.  
Curious he opens up the envelope and finds two sheets of paper. The first one reads.

_Eggsy,_  
_it's fucking weird writing it since you are, well, me. Don't drop the letter, I'm not a weirdo! But weird stuff happened and I'm short on time so listen up: in my time there was a massacre in the church, Harry died, Arthur was working with Valentine this whole time and a shitload of people died. So I had to go back. If you don't believe me, ask Merlin about the Doctor and read the Torchwood files (you already know that stuff is true, though so what's one more?). The other paper is a list of every person working with Valentine I could remember, including our agents - they will have micro chips under the skin behind the right ear - you'll recognize the scar. That climate prof had the same one. There are also GPS coordinates - it's Valentines hideout where he keeps all his "precious guests". The kidnapped ones._  
 _Give Merlin the list. Become a Kingsman. Stop being such a pussy and kiss Harry because seriously..._  
 _I'm going to kill Valentine. So you can do the rest._  
 _E._

Eggsy carefully folds the letter - written in his own handwriting - and careful not to think too much rushes to headquarters.

2

Merlin reads the letter, reads the list and immediately takes action while Eggsy can only sit and watch. A pissed off technician is a scary sight but this time? He's going through the agency like an avenging angel with a flaming sword and when Harry Hart lands, Kingsman are missing three knights, Arthur and quite a long list of personnel because apparently the other Eggsy missed a couple of people. They were found out during the obligatory checkout.  
Eggsy leaves explaining Harry everything to Merlin. Only the Scottish technician can say stuff like "time travel" and "changing timelines" without sounding like a complete loon, after all.

3  
In the aftermath Harry becomes Arthur, Eggsy inherits the Galahad title and Lancelot gets him totally smashed because, damn. That has to be the weirdest week in their lives, right?

4

"Thank you," says Harry one quiet night when it's only him and Eggsy in the offices above atelier. Galahad raises his head from the currently read file and accepts a glass of scotch from the older man with a smile.  
"What for?"  
"Going back in time and saving my ass, apparently?" Harry looks slightly uncomfortable while sitting down on a sofa in Galahad's new office. "I know it wasn't you-you. But still. Seems like a proper thing to do."  
"You do know that I-he didn't do it for any proper reasons, right?"  
Harry looks confused. Eggsy finds it adorable.  
_Oh God, he really should go and have his head checked._  
He leaves his desk and sits next to Harry instead.  
"It was selfish. The world was fine, there was no catastrophe to avert in the global meaning, right? But you were dead and it was a selfish decision. Even I know that, Harry."  
"I'm kind of grateful for this selfishness. He-you acted stupidly and you could have gotten hurt or worse, killed, and if you do something like that I will kill you myself. But I'm grateful, Eggsy."  
The world is quiet and the silence between them is charged with something - not bad, no, just something. Like waiting. Like yearning or longing for something.  
For someone.  
Harry's lips taste like scotch and butter cookies when their mouths clash, teeth clink and it's sloppy, rushed and absolutely everything a first kiss should be like.  
"Took me long enough," whispers Eggsy when they pause to catch a breath.  
Harry laughs and shuts him up with a kiss.

5

There is a small pub near the atelier - nothing fancy, "a watering hole" as Excalibur calls it, that the few of them visit frequently. They are not knights but without them the agency wouldn't be able to do its job as smoothly. It's not a secret that they gather there - and the last week was tough. Especially since some of the personnel members they had to get rid of were friends.  
"This sucks," sighs Nimue heavily and reaches for her pint. The red-headed woman is one of the brightest minds of her generation when it comes to communication technology R&D and Merlin is very grateful she wasn't on Eggsy's list. Neither was Excalibur, the cleaner. He was a weird one - came to the agency not long after the 456 mess, claimed he used to work for Torchwood Three in Wales and soon became one of the agency's biggest personnel assets.  
Excalibur - Jack - patts her back and sends Nimue a blinding smile.  
"Don't worry, we'll get through this. As usual, right?"  
"Hear, hear," says Merlin.  
After they released Valentine's prisoners and combed through their own agency for traitors, the world is almost back to normal.  
Merlin hopes it'll stay that way at least for a little while.

6

"So all it took for you to grow a pair was a time travel and changing the fate of humanity? Wow, Eggsy. Just...wow."  
"Shut the fuck up, Roxy."

**Author's Note:**

> If you have any prompts for me - leave them in the comments. I love writing stories people want to read and all the feedback I've been getting just makes my fly ;)  
> Chinese translation available [here](http://www.movietvslash.com/thread-156425-1-1.html).
> 
> [Find me on tumblr!](http://issayscorner.tumblr.com/)


End file.
